Shattered Dreams
by Shadowfire1986
Summary: Sakura is injured in a terrible accident, and a grief stricken Syaoran must shoulder the burden of taming an out of control Card.
1. Chapter 1

It all began the day that Sakura was hit by a car. It was a stupid, useless accident, the kind that should never have occurred. She had been crossing the street to visit one of her friends, when the car had come around the corner going way too fast to stop.

That had been this morning, now Syaoran was on his way to the hospital to see her. He had talked to the doctor on the phone, and knew that it didn't look good. The doctor had said that she might never wake up, or she could wake up tomorrow, there was no way to tell, but he said that the longer she remained in the coma, the less chance there would be that she would wake up.

He opened the door to her room, and for a moment stood shocked as he saw Sakura standing by the window with tears streaming down her face. Then, he noticed Sakura in the bed and realized what was going on.

"Mirror," he said, "what are you doing here?"

She turned to him with her tear streaked face, Sakura's face, and his heart broke. It didn't help that Mirror was so difficult to sense, so that all he had to go by was his eyes. She tried to speak, but grief overcame her and so he gave her a quick hug and waited for her to collect herself.

"As one of the few Cards able to talk directly to people, I stayed behind to explain."

"Explain," he asked, confused, "explain what?"

She looked over at Sakura, lying broken in the bed, "We know what may happen to our master, and we cannot stand it. We love her more than we loved our creator, for with him we were always the inferior and knew it. But Sakura..."

Mirror had to pause and swallow before continuing. "To Sakura we were always dear friends and not just creations. We were _people_ to her, and out of respect we...most of us...will not allow ourselves to go wild and harm humans out of fear. Most of us have scattered around the world, trying to find some place where we won't feel the pain if she..."

As Mirror burst into tears Syaoran frowned slightly, "Wait, you said 'most of us'."

Mirror sobbed a few times then nodded, "Our sister, she has been alone too much and is terribly afraid of having to be alone again. She is willing herself to lose control, so that the world will end with our master. She doesn't even realize that she might be destroying the only chance that our Master will recover."

He held her, trying to remind himself that it was Mirror and not Sakura he was holding. "Whoever it is, we can handle it. I was there the first time we collected the cards, I'm sure I can handle quieting her down. As long as it isn't..."

She nodded at him and he paled as she said, "Yes, Hope has deserted us, she wont listen to us, all she can think of is that she will be abandoned again. Her power...we never could match it and she has grown much stronger since she was simply the void. Her power will cover the whole world. She has already begun, though I doubt anyone has sensed it. Slowly, bit by bit, people's dreams and hopes will become real, in their own little reality. Whether they will be pulled out of this one or simply become unaware, I don't know. I do know that the less happy you are with this world, the more her power can affect you."

He nodded, and turned to go, pausing to kiss the back of the real Sakura's hand. "Don't worry Mirror, I will stop her. If she is putting Sakura in the slightest bit of extra danger, I will _stop_ her."

Mirror watched him go, personally, she thought he was kidding himself. He wasn't thinking straight in his grief, and Hope would have him before long. She didn't care though, she would watch her master till the end, and if Hope did start pulling reality apart, maybe she would get to see Touya again.


	2. Chapter 2

Heading out of the hospital, Syaoran was deep in thought. He was desperately trying to figure out a way he could keep his promise to mirror. It would be hard to locate Hope, especially if she didn't want to be found. Lost in thought, he kept walking, not noticing that several people around him were staring vacantly at walls and the sky.

As he passed the Daidouji Mansion, he decided to let Tomoyo know what had happened. She and Sakura had remained close, but Syaoran doubted the hospital had thought to inform her. He walked across the street, keeping a wary eye out for cars as he could wish Sakura had… Tears welled up in his eyes but he pushed them down, his long training serving to help him put duty over his own feelings.

He walked up to the gate that blocked the driveway, noticing as he did so that it seemed so much smaller than when he had first came here. He pressed the button on the speaker and one of the Daidouji servants answered him. After some small argument, he managed to get Tomoyo on the speaker.

"Hello," She her ever soothing voice asked, "Syaoran? Where is Sakura, did you come over to visit me? You haven't been to see me in a while, though I talked to Sakura the other day and she said she might come by soon."

Syaoran immediately felt guilty, both for not visiting and for what he had to say. "Sakura…Tomoyo, Sakura was in an accident this morning, she was hit by a car."

"No…No, you're wrong, Sakura can't be hurt. She _can't_ be!"

"I'm sorry, I just came from there, she's in a hospital bed and they don't know if she will ever wake up."

"You're LYING, She can't be hurt! After everything she's faced, after everything she has had to overcome…" Tomoyo's sobs echoed through the speaker. "She can't have left me. She promised that we would be friends forever, she would never leave me."

Suddenly there was the sound of a thud, and Tomoyo let out a gasp of surprise. He was about to bust in there and see what was going on when she started talking again. She sounded like she was in a daze or slightly drunk.

"That was mean Syaoran, making me think she was hurt while she snuck in here." Tomoyo gave a drowsy giggle, "She says she wants to be fitted for a whole bunch of costumes just like I used to make for her, and she doesn't ever want to go back, she is going to move in here with me and we will hang out every day…never leaving…never…"

Her voice trailed off and he could hear her breathing slow, as if she were falling asleep. He pounded on the speaker, saying "Tomoyo, _Tomoyo_, what's going on what are you talking about!"

When his hand came down again, there was a kind of shimmer between him and the wall. Then, with a bright flash, the gate and the wall surrounding it vanished. He looked up at the house, and saw that it was shimmering, like a mirage. It faded; all color fading from its surface, and then it turned transparent and faded out completely, leaving only bare ground.

Syaoran fell to his knees, and slammed a fist into the ground, he shook with deep emotion, and finally collected himself. He stood up, and asked someone walking by, "How can you walk so calmly when that whole mansion disappeared! All those people, the whole Daidouji mansion gone and you just keep walking!"

The man looked at him like he was crazy, "What are you talking about! That lot has been vacant for years. There hasn't been so much as a tent there for ages, let alone a _mansion_."

Syaoran stared at the man, at first thinking it was just a joke, but soon realizing the man was serious. He decided to run for some help, Touya and Yukito were at Sakura's place getting some stuff for her hospital room, hoping that having familiar things around her would help her wake up. Maybe Yue, if he would transform from Yukito for him, could give him some help.

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About ten minutes later, he arrived, and used his key to get in. _Gee,_ he thought, _I hope Touya doesn't know she gave me this. I don't need to deal with his hostility right now, especially with peoples desires manifesting._

He walked toward the sound of voices, making sure to make some noise as he did so to avoid interrupting anything that would embarrass everyone. He opened a door and looked in on a disheveled and rather annoyed looking Touya and the ever immaculate Yukito. They were standing what they probably believed was a convincing distance apart, and appeared to be reading magazines.

"Listen," Syaoran said as he entered, "I know we have had a hard day today, but its about to get worse…" He stalled, not knowing how to begin.

"It's about Hope right," Touya said, only the twitching vain on his head showing his annoyance at being interrupted. At Syaoran's astonished look he explained, "Yue filled us in a little while ago, we were relaxing…with a good magazine, before going over to the old theme park where she was sealed to see if that's where she went. Yue wanted to rush, but I told him that neither of us had gotten much sleep and needed to eat and reenergize before going up against something like that."

Syaoran jumped up at the mention of the amusement park, "Why didn't I think of that! Let's go, come on we have to hurry, Tomoyo's already disappeared, we may not have much time."

He took off out the door and Touya helped Yukito up, and they started to follow Syaoran. Yukito asked in a puzzled voice, "Yue wants to know who this Tomoyo is?"

Touya glanced at the retreating back of Syaoran and said, "I have no idea, but hopefully, it's a new girlfriend so he can stay away from my sister."


	3. Chapter 3

Syaoran ran, ignoring cries of protest from the people milling about, ignoring everything but his goal of getting to the amusement park and stopping Hope from destroying everything. He _had_ to focus on his goal, because if he spared one thought on anything else, his own personal grief would threaten to overwhelm him. Finally, he reached the entrance to the park and he stared in shock.

The Ferris wheel, the roller coasters, the carousel all were shimmering and fading in and out in some places, and flowing through strange colors in others. The whole park seemed like a strange mirage, as if everything was fading in and out of reality. In fact, he realized, that was exactly what was happening. All of the children in the park were tapping into the power that Hope was putting out, but since each had their own unique view of reality, the power couldn't resolve the conflicts and this was the result.

Syaoran moved to avoid a group of running kids, but as they came near they faded out, only to reappear farther along, near a wall that had suddenly became a cotton candy stand. Everything was shimmering and changing so much, that Syaoran was getting slightly nauseous. He closed his eyes and breathed, trying to settle his stomach, when behind him he heard the sound of wheezing. He opened his eyes and turned to see a very breathless Touya and a glaring Yue. He had forgotten that Touya had less endurance since giving up his powers, and that Yue was particularly sensitive about the subject.

Touya looked around quietly; he seemed both disturbed and amused by the strange environment. "Well," he said, staring as a section of the roller coaster disappeared only to be replaced by a length of candy canes. "I guess we are lucky they didn't build a penitentiary here."

Yue spoke softly, "This is no laughing matter, the belief of a child is a powerful thing, and who knows what will happen once Hope's power resolves all these conflicts."

"Wait." Touya said, pointing, "Look over there, that kid isn't fading in and out like the others. Why's that?"

Syaoran looked at Touya like he was crazy; experiencing a twinge of envy that Touya was still so much taller. "Who cares! We need to get to the tower and look for Hope not play around with some kid!"

Touya narrowed his eyes and looked over at the twerp, "Listen brat, I've got a feeling about this and we are going to go talk to that kid, right now. Aren't we Yue?"

Yue sighed, "Its better to just humor him Syaoran, after all you can't face hope alone and we don't even know that she is here."

As the two walked towards the kid, who really didn't look any different from the others to Syaoran, he muttered, "She _is_ here, she _has_ to be here."

As Touya approached the child, there was a loud popping sound and suddenly the child was holding an ice cream cone. He walked over to the child, kneeling to put himself closer to the child's eye level. "Hey kid, what do you have there?"

The kid smiled, revealing the large gap where his front baby teeth had fallen out. When he spoke, there was a kind of whistling sound along with his words. "It's my favorite ice cream. Today is a magic day, if you want something and wish for it _real_ hard, it comes true. It must be because it's my birthday, don't you think? Like when you blow out the candles but you can do it more than once!" The boy giggled and took another slurp of his ice cream.

Touya smiled at him and said "Happy Birthday." Then, he turned back to face the others, Syaoran looked about ready to bolt up to the tower himself while Yue looked thoughtful. Touya tousled the kid's hair without thinking and winced, reminded of all the times he had done the same to Sakura as a child, much to her protest. How Syaoran could be running around after Hope at a time like this Touya didn't know. It was hard, so hard to keep going, to ignore the pain eating away inside. Sometimes all he wanted to do was…well, that wasn't a productive line of thought with Hope playing around making peoples desires manifest.

He stood brushing off his pant legs, wondering why Yue still had that look on his face. He had grown pretty good at reading both Yue's and Yukito's expressions, a fact made easier by their growing mergence. And the look in Yue's eye right now meant that he was planning something. Oh well, whatever it was, they had come here for a reason. Touya walked towards the tower and said, "Come on brat, are you going to follow or just sit there all day."

They approached the tower, Touya ignoring Syaoran's muttering. As they stepped inside, they coughed for a moment at the overwhelming smell of mold and mildew. Syaoran led the way up the stairs, climbing up higher and higher trying to sense something with their respective senses.

Yue shook his head, "I'm not getting anything. It looks like she isn't here after all."

Touya furrowed his brow; something was nagging at him, a strange halfway familiar feeling. "There something, like a weird pulsating sensation," he pointed out the window, "that way." He looked surprised at his own words, and then glanced over at Yue who was blushing slightly. "Wait, why am I sensing anything?"

Yue turned a darker shade of red and looked away, "With so much power in the air it seemed a shame not to take advantage of it and try to give back what I stole from you."

Touya scowled and spoke his voice rising slightly, "We've been over this a thousand times! You didn't take anything from me! I gave you my powers because I couldn't stand watching you fade out like that! Because I didn't want you to leave when I could give you what you needed to stay."

There was a strange thickening sensation in the air, like just before a thunder strike. Syaoran shivered with the sudden bone numbing chill, "Hey guys, hate to break up the love fest, but do you feel that?"

Yue looked at Touya in mild alarm, which for him was like anyone else screaming in panic.

"Were thinking about…"

"Yes, do you mean that…?"

"Me too, so probably..."

"So that means…"

"Yeah…but I really don't mind."

"Me either, actually, it's kind of a relief. But shouldn't we…?"

Syaoran sighed heavily, why couldn't couples ever make any sense? Though, he and Sakura sometimes slipped into that kind of synch, come to think of it. But that thought merely poked his open wound, and he shied away from it. He was a little distracted, so he was twice as surprised when both Yue and Touya turned to face him. He felt a surge of power and everything flashed white.

Suddenly, he was outside the park, trying to figure out what in the world was going on. That's when he noticed the tower, or what used to be the tower anyway. It was like something had taken the land and twisted it, everything spiraling upwards. It started to fade out right in front of his eyes, but as it did something strange happened. Whether it was because of Touya's and Yue's magic or some other reason, who could say. But as the tower faded out, the ground around it seemed to ripple. The park itself was moving up and down as if it were nothing more solid than water. The ripples stopped just shy of the entrance, and Syaoran wondered what would happen if he got closer and touched one.

Before that thought was finished, the ripples had increased pace, the ground vibrating like wild, hundreds of pulses per second. Then with a pop, it was gone, all of it. The entire park vanished, except for part of the entrance. Not a stray bit of grass or rock path remained. It was like something had just wiped away any trace of life ever being there. It was so much more than had happened at the Daidouji mansion, so either Hope was putting out more power than ever, or these distortions fed off the magic of the people inside. That's when he realized that Touya and Yue hadn't teleported out with him. He looked around in shock, sure that they would pop up somewhere. When they didn't he screamed in frustration, was he going to lose everyone important in his life!


	4. Chapter 4

Syaoran opened his eyes and found himself staring upwards at a high ceiling with shifting shadows. His mind was cloudy, feeling like it was filled with cotton, which worried him. He had been trained to the high standards of his family to maintain a clear mind, to not let exhaustion or any bodily need affect his thinking, for a magic user who couldn't control their mind was bound to have trouble eventually. He looked around, already beginning the simple mental exercises to help clear his thoughts.

He saw a fireplace nearby, the flames warm and inviting, and he stepped closer to the mantle, some instinct calling to him. The first thing he saw was two bears, sitting arm in arm, and he smiled, a warm feeling in his heart. There were pictures too, of Sakura and himself. There they were on their first real date, both blushing red and facing opposite directions. He smiled, and the warm feeling in his heart grew, and there was something else, a strange sensation like a silk cord leading towards…

There was a knock and then the door was thrown open, and Sakura ran through, shouting "Your awake thank goodness, I was worried! You looked like you were having a nightmare."

As she strode towards him she tripped over a curl in the carpet and landed next to the couch with a thump, she got up muttering to herself and sat down on the couch, motioning for him to join her. As he sat down next to her, as his hands found hers, he could feel nothing but acceptance of the fact that her accident had been a dream. He didn't _want_ to believe that it was anything but a dream.

He held her close and his heart wanted to break at the thought of anything happening to her. He felt that strange sensation again but he ignored it, nothing was important next the fact that she was safe. Remembering the past, he smiled thinking of how they had met and all his confusion over his feelings for her. In fact, their feelings where what had enable Sakura to create her very own card, that had no name until it had fused with the Void and become…Hope, the very hope that she had given his life, for he had no future, his family had no future, outside of the Clow magic. But she, she had given him that future, and now he would be content to lay here in her arms forever.

As he began to fade out, only concerned with the smell and feel of Sakura, there was the sound of breaking glass, he felt Sakura gasp and they turned to look. A floor length mirror on the wall had slid down and cracked. As he stared, Mirror appeared, shaking her head sadly, a tear sliding down her cheek. He stared, wondering what was going on, the mirror cracked further, and then seemed to explode. He saw his reflection in a thousand shards of flying glass, but just his, nothing else. No fireplace, no Sakura, the fog in his head lifted as the sounds of falling glass echoed inside, dispelling the illusion this place was wrapping around him, the illusion he was creating himself.

He tried to clear his mind, tried to banish this false reality. He held himself stiff, tried to ignore it as Sakura started crying, tugging at him, begging him to talk to her, asking what she did wrong, wondering why he didn't love her anymore. Tears ran freely down his face as the room started to fade, as she started to fade, still sobbing. He felt like his heart was being ripped out, doing that even to her image, but he knew that she would never forgive him if he let one of her cards harm the world.

He opened his eyes to a black space filled with fog, rolling around on winds that could not be felt. He was careful to keep his mind blank, as if he were actively performing magic, because here, thought and action were one and reality was never constant. The sheer power of the Hope card boggled the mind, that she could create so many different realities and hold them truly was nothing short of a miracle. Yet, her awesome power could not give her the one thing she wanted, the one thing he wanted as well, a whole Sakura. Her life was running out, and not even the greatest magics could truly create life, could not give her that which she truly needed, a replenishment of that unnamable force which gave humans life.

He knew she knew that, and that was why she had gone wild with grief. There was nothing more painful, more heartbreaking, than watching someone die and knowing you could do nothing to stop it. That, he knew better than anyone. That, he felt echoing painfully in his own chest every minute since the accident. That and something else, a part of him realized, but he couldn't pin it down right away. There was something there, a bond, deep in his heart. It felt like Sakura, but there was something…else…there as well. He touched it mentally, and as he did so an image appeared in his mind, a red string going from his heart, to Sakura's, but in the middle…

Of course, he thought, the Hope was created when the Void merged with the card created by Sakura, the card that was the embodiment of their feelings for each other, the promise of their future. That connection was one that could never be severed, and it bound all three of them together. He closed his eyes, concentrating on what he wanted, and when he opened them, that bond was real, visible, a thread stretching off into the darkness. Where it passed, the fog parted as if blown away by a strange force.

He followed the line, trying to keep his concentration strong. Images appeared to either side, Sakura, a thousand different versions of her. Every possibly memory or dream he had ever had of her was here, trying to lure him off of the line. He kept walking tears streaming down his face silently. If only…

He found himself standing on a playground, facing Sakura, but it wasn't the same Sakura, it was younger, from back to that first year. He looked down at his body, discovering that he too looked like he belonged here. This time, he decided he couldn't let things get started or it would be that much harder to leave again. He immediately brought his concentration to bear and wiped away the illusion, returning to the world of dark mist.

He knew he was getting closer, knew that Hope was getting desperate now, throwing illusions in his way to try and stop him from intruding on her sorrow. He saw many things on that path, images of his mother, his family, Clow Reed, Sakura, even Yue. Each time, he managed to regain his concentration and resume his course, knowing only that he had to stop Hope, stop her for Sakura's sake, because it was what she would want him to do.

He reached a door, just hanging there in the mist, the thread, a deep crimson in color by now, passed through the center. He put his hand on the knob and turned, stepping inside. He didn't know what he had suspected, but it wasn't this. Around him spun bubbles containing the people and beings that had already succumbed to Hope's power. There, towards the center, was Tomoyo, and in a moment Yue and Touya spun into view. They formed a giant spinning diagram around a central figure. As he approached, he realized it was a bed.

It wasn't just any bed, he realized with a heartbreaking feeling, it was the hospital bed which Sakura would probably never leave. She was there, and in this world her skin pulsed with light, light which was steadily fading from her. Once Syaoran managed to take his eyes off of Sakura, he noticed Hope floating overhead, sobbing and holding her knees tightly.

"Never again! I don't _ever_ want to be alone again. Why cant I save her! I can grant the desires off all these people, but not mine! I'm going to be alone again!" Her tears ran downwards into the infinite space below. He knew exactly what that felt like, his heart, his very soul, was an empty void without Sakura.

It was then that the idea that had been floating at the back of his mind exploded full force into his awareness. He looked at Hope, his eyes clear and pain free for the first time since this mess began. He looked around at the floating figures, remembered the things he had learned from many of them, and then back to the sobbing Hope.

"I have an idea…" he said, causing her to pause and look at him with a strange expression.



Sakura blinked and opened her eyes, her entire body was sore, but she couldn't think of why. Looking around, she noticed she was in a strange room. She tried to sit up, but a hand at her sleeve stopped her. She looked over, smiling. Of course it was Syaoran, sleeping against the side of the bed and hanging on to her sleeve. He was always there for her, no matter what happened. She leaned closer to him and poked him in the shoulder.

"Syaoran?"

His hand fell off the bed, and somewhere far away, a stuffed bear slid off of a mantle and into the fire.


End file.
